Promise Me Forever

by Janelle Taylor

  Rachel was overcome with shock and bewilderment. When she retrieved her stolen wits and breath, she inquired, “You’ve been seeing Camellia to spy on her?”

  Dan comprehended he had guessed right, thanks to his and Luke’s excellent tracking skills. But all wariness had not left her muted gaze. “Yes, and it was hard, but I did it for you. She hates you and wishes you dead, but I don’t think she would murder your husbands to obtain vengeance. She loves herself and all she has too much to risk losing them. It’s the same with the others we’ve been checking on; we haven’t found a reason to incriminate any of them. Not yet, but Luke is still working on those angles in case we’ve missed a clue.” Dan saw he had her full attention. “There isn’t a spurned sweetheart or lover in your past, not that we could locate,” he continued. “You married every man you became involved with. I couldn’t find any woman, except that arrogant Camellia, who would want to be spiteful. We couldn’t locate any family members who would want or could extract revenge, not even your stepfather. True, Craig’s brother hated and distrusted you, but he’s been living up North a long time. The only way he could be responsible for Phillip’s death would be through hiring someone to kill him, and he’d have no motive for the deaths of William and his son. If it’s a plot against you, and I firmly believe it is, it began with your first marriage. For a while, I even suspected that Lula Mae had her eye on William, but from what I hear, she doesn’t care for any man. Besides, she wasn’t around when the first three people died. I was inclined to believe your stepfather was the culprit, but he has alibis for the two days in question.” He suddenly changed the subject. “Did you know your mother is ill?” He explained his last question, though she already knew the facts.

  Rachel comprehended how much Dan had done for her. “Yes, but how did you learn all of this?”

  Dan grinned, as he knew she believed him. “Luke and I have our ways. We can be most cunning when a situation demands it. This one does, Rachel. If I don’t solve both mysteries, I’ll lose you. I warn you, you skittish vixen, I won’t give up without a fight.”

  She tried to suppress a smile of amusement. “How did you find me?”

  “Burke likes me and trusts me. He knows how you’re suffering and he knows I love you and want to help you.”

  She looked alarmed. “He gave away my whereabouts?”

  “Only to me, Rachel, and for good reason. You can trust him completely.” Dan wished he could tell her everything, but he couldn’t take that risk now. If she learned he and Phillip were brothers and he had set out to entrap her, it would do more damage or undo the repairs he was making.

  He cupped her face between his hands and entreated, “Can’t we test these feelings for each other? I won’t press you for more than you’re willing to give or more than you can share. But give me, give us, a real chance. We’re so well suited. Can’t we at least make a commitment to give our wonderful feelings for each other a try? If you say no, I’ll have to get out of your life completely. I can’t risk being hurt.”

  Convince me, Dan. “I told you; I’m probably cursed and jinxed.”

  He shook his head. “I don’t believe that. You have an enemy, have had one for years. We’ll find out who it is and why; then this evil will be over.”

  Persuade me, Dan. “I might not want to marry again.”

  “I don’t want to, but I will settle for you as my lover, if you insist.”

  Reassure me, Dan. “I might not be able to have children. My pregnancy and miscarriage were hard on my body; vengeful gifts from Craig. The doctor’s words weren’t promising. You’ll want an heir someday.”

  That took Dan by surprise. Share no children with this special woman? Never have a child of his own? No son to carry on the family name? But, she had said “might.” What was more important: having his love and no children, or having children with a woman he didn’t love?

  Rachel’s heart pounded as she watched him contemplate that sad news. Induce me, Dan. “You could say it doesn’t matter, and it may not at this time in your life, but later it will. You’ll make a wonderful father, Dan; you deserve that gift. If we became lovers, it would be painful for both of us to part eventually so you could marry and have a family. The longer and closer we’re together, the more difficult it will be for us to end our liaison. If you want me for a while, that shouldn’t be too perilous to our emotions. We’d have to be careful and secretive, but I would agree.”

  “Is that why you discarded me? To spare my feelings?”

  Tell him the truth, Rachel. “No. I mean, not totally. I have worried over those things, but I was trying to shut them out of my mind.”

  “Then what happened between Monday and Thursday?”

  “Camellia Jones. I saw you with her on Wednesday.”

  Dan feigned surprise, then enlightenment. “So that’s it. That’s all?”

  He chuckled and hugged her. He leaned back, gazed into her eyes, and declared happily, “What a relief! You thought I was bedding her?”

  Get it all into the open. “That, and more.”

  “What, love? Tell me, so we can clear up this misunderstanding.”

  Don’t let him think you’re silly; explain. Rachel related the doubts and fears that had assailed her when she saw them together.

  Dan cuddled her in his arms. “I can understand why you would think such things,” he said soothingly, “but it isn’t true; I swear it, Rachel, on my name and honor. I love you and want you. I didn’t know Camellia until I arranged to meet her to test her.”

  Trust him! “I hope I’m not being foolish and reckless, but I believe you.” She explained her behavior on Thursday and apologized.

  Dan said the right thing, “If I were in your predicament, I would have jumped to the same conclusions and behaved the same way. I should have forced you to listen to me, but I was too stunned. I’ve missed you, woman, and been worried about you. I didn’t like you leaving like this all alone.”

  “It was probably good I did; I learned a few things and put another ruse into motion.” She told him about her meeting with George. “You don’t think I was wrong to trust him and to entice his help?”

  “No. I think it was a good idea, a clever plan.”

  She explained what she had in mind for Harry Monday morning. “Think it will work?” she asked.

  “Sounds splendid to me.” His gaze locked with hers.

  “There’s more, Dan; your life is in danger.”

  “You aren’t cursed, love,” he refuted before she clarified.

  “I don’t mean that.” She told him about the notes she had received Wednesday and yesterday that threatened his life. “I can’t even use them as evidence because the culprit forged my script. He probably knows you’re here now.”

  Dan caressed her cheek. “Don’t worry, love; I’ll protect both of us. One day all of this will be over and we can be together as man and wife.”

  “Why not be together tonight?” she suggested bravely.

  “Nothing would please me more, Rachel. Nothing.”

  Love me, Dan, and never leave me, her bold heart urged. Then her cautious mind only allowed her mouth to say, “Love me, Dan. Now, please.”

  Just as Dan pulled her into his arms, another knock sounded on her door. “Don’t answer it, love, and whoever it is will go away soon.”

  Rachel glanced at the clock on the mantel and frowned. “I can’t. I placed an order for my dinner to be delivered at seven. I’m sure that’s who it is,” she surmised as the knock became more persistent and a voice called out her name. “Hide under the bed while I take the tray.”

  Dan complied and Rachel opened the door to a bellman holding a tray. “Just place it on the table,” she instructed, eager to have him gone. Flames of desire licked urgently at her body, and she needed to douse them.

  Rachel thanked the young man and tipped him. She closed and locked the door following his exit. Dan scrambled from his hiding place and looked at the meal that was sending forth fragrant smells.
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  Rachel went into his arms, fused her greedy gaze to his, and murmured, “The only thing I’m hungry for at this moment is you, Daniel Slade. Feed me before I perish of starvation.”

  “Your dinner will get cold. Are you sure?”

  “Need you even ask?” she replied, and kissed him ravenously. “Well?” she coaxed as she pulled her lips from his with difficulty.

  Chapter 15

  That was all the permission and encouragement Daniel Slade McCandless required. He was more than ready to take a second sensuous voyage with her, to find again rapture in her arms and body, and to quench his thirst for her. He knew that fulfillment would last only a short time, but he would bond her to him so tightly tonight that she would be available forever when he wanted and needed her.

  Dan unfastened the two clasps on her paletot top. He slipped it off her shoulders and tossed it onto a chair. She turned for him to undo the laces of her pompadour basque. His fingers trailed down her arms as he removed the fancy blouse. He undid the button of her walking skirt, bent, and waited for her to step out of it. He tossed that garment onto the pile he was making on the chair. His hands grasped the tail of her yoked chemise and lifted it over her head. Her full breasts greeted his gaze as she turned to face him. It feasted there a moment before his trembling fingers tried unsuccessfully to unfasten the button on her lace-trimmed knee-length drawers.

  Rachel smiled and assisted him. She flung the undergarment away. As Dan squatted to remove her slippers and hose, she didn’t feel modest or apprehensive as she stood there naked before the man she loved and desired. In fact, she found it arousing to have him undress her.

  When his last task was completed, Dan stood. His eyes roamed her olive skin with admiration and pleasure. “You’re exquisite, Rachel. Every inch of you is perfection. Not a flaw on your body.”

  Rachel hadn’t been pregnant long enough for streaks to mark her breasts, stomach, thighs, or buttocks. In a way, she was glad, as this way there were no reminders to Dan that she had carried another man’s child within her body. Not that she was happy about not bearing Craig’s child, as it would have been her child, perhaps her only child. But she wouldn’t think about that torment tonight. If the doctor was mistaken and she did become pregnant, she would marry Daniel Slade in a moment.

  “My turn,” she murmured, her gaze like two golden-brown embers that were ready to be ignited by a view of his naked body.

  Rachel grinned as Dan held his arms out and enticed, “I’m all yours, woman. Do with me as you wish.”

  Rachel slid his jacket over his broad shoulders and flung it aside as she tried to control merry giggles. With seductive leisure, she unbuttoned his shirt, then peeled the snug-fitting item away to expose a hard chest with its fuzzy black covering. She placed her fingers on either side of his neck at the collarbone; with a snailish and stimulating pace, she drifted them down his chest, wandering them over his flat nipples, teasing them across the ridges of his rib cage, and halting them at his trim waistline. She squatted to take off his boots, then stood to unfasten his pants, bent again to remove them, with Dan assisting her by lifting one leg at a time. When all of his garments were discarded, her brazen gaze could not resist journeying him from raven-black head to bare feet. She wished there were more light, as no lamp had been lit in her room yet. She had only the lingerings of daylight coming through the two windows to aid her scrutiny. She had never done a study before of the male body, but she relished it with this man she loved. As her palms flattened against his muscled chest and her gaze locked with his, she murmured, “This is perfection, Daniel Slade. You’re magnificent. You make me feel so brave and bold. You cast off all my doubts, fears, and restraints. You have made a wanton and greedy woman of me. I have no shame or inhibition with you.”

  “Isn’t that how it should be between true lovers, Rachel?” he asked in a voice made husky from his unleashed emotions.

  “I didn’t know that fact until I met you, but now I know it’s true.”

  Their unclad bodies pressed together as they kissed. The contact of their flesh enflamed their passions to even higher levels. His teeth nibbled at her neck, her shoulder, her ear. She sighed in contentment. Their fingers traced over naked flesh, noting the textures and contrasts of each. They were eager to unite their bodies and to sate their hungers, but they proceeded with deliberate leisure.

  As Dan’s fingers caressed her upper body front and back, hers roamed his chest and shoulders. She wriggled when his hand moved along her spine in a tickling manner, then caught her breath as both grasped her buttocks and drew her close against him. Her fingers roved his back and savored the feel of rippling muscles as his body moved to tantalize her. She stroked his arms and enjoyed the sensation of his hair against her palms. She wanted to touch and explore every inch of him.

  Dan lifted her and laid her on the bed, not even tossing aside the covers. He wished darkness hadn’t stolen the outside light, as his eyes wanted to feed on her tasty skin. He had only the filtered glow of a full moon to view her by. His hands, nose, lips, and ears must be his eyes tonight. His mouth covered hers with a demand that stole his breath.

  Rachel inhaled the manly scent of his body, which mingled with an enticing cologne from the islands southeast of America. His mouth tasted minty, delicious, and provocative. His tongue danced with hers in an erotic manner to a silent, seductive beat.

  Dan’s lips traveled down her slender neck to compelling mounds of sweet flesh. His tongue played with the taut and succulent buds it found there. It circled them over and over, hardening them even more. One hand caressed its way along the path to her triangular forest of dark-brown. The hair in that location was downy soft, and the mist of her arousal dampened it. His fingers caressed her silky valleys as he teethed her nipples lightly.

  Pleasure, sweet and tormenting, ensnared Rachel. It began deep within her womanhood, mounted and teased, then sent charges over her entire frame as if tiny lightning bolts striking her flesh from head to foot. She writhed and moaned, her need for him great and urgent. Every inch of her was sensitive and responsive to him. She was so alive and happy with him. She couldn’t imagine losing him. Her pleasures increased, but so did her yearning for more; this time, she knew for what.

  Dan was thrilled and encouraged by her fiery need and responses. He obtained added pleasure from the delight he was giving her. He eased atop her, parted her thighs, and obeyed her mute summons to possess her fully. The contact was again staggering to his control and impassioned senses.

  Dan was enchanted as Rachel’s legs curled over his thighs and she matched her movements to his. Her mouth clung to his, as her flesh glued itself to his. She urged him onward with her actions and words. If any lingering doubt that this was the woman for him had existed someplace in Dan’s mind or body, it was vanquished forever. He had experienced rapturous lovemaking with other women, but it was different with Rachel, a special feeling that totally consumed his heart, his soul, his whole being.

  She felt the same way. If any doubts had lurked within her, they were gone, conquered by the emotions and sensations she was sharing with Daniel Slade. It was a union of more than hungry bodies; it was a fusion of spirits, a forging of their cores. Her senses reeled freely and wildly, compelling her to total abandonment. He was all she needed.

  Rachel’s unbridled responses and bold actions heightened Dan’s desires and coaxed his full possession of her. Her ardor and need inspired him to hold nothing back. Passion’s flames engulfed him in a fiery and blazing glow that only she could extinguish. His lips and hands roved her luscious figure and mouth, bringing her to uncontrollable tremors of desire. She uttered feverish moans as she became breathless with need for him. She arched to meet every thrust. Her words and movements provoked him to a swifter pace. Loving him like this was sweet torment. Though she wanted the stimulation to continue, she craved release. “I love you, Dan,” she confessed without awareness she had spoken.

  The sea captain heard those whispered word
s and his heart drummed with joy. Yet he knew she wasn’t conscious of uttering them. She was ensnared in the throes of love, passion, and overpowering release. He cast his control aside and joined her in an explosion of sultry elation.

  Both were damp with perspiration from their exertions. The salty taste of passion touched their tongues as they kissed each other’s faces and necks. They relaxed in the languid afterglow of their potent experience, snuggling together to bask in its warmth.

  “I told you I would fight for you, woman,” Dan chuckled “but I never realized a battle could be so pleasurable and victorious.”

  “If this is how you fight, my dashing sea pirate, I’ll gladly challenge you every day and night.”

  “Rachel McCandless, how brazen you’ve become.”

  She joined in on his laughter. “You cannot blame me, Sir Pirate. The fault lies with my instructor. He is determined to teach me the skills he knows. Alas, I fear I am most eager and receptive to his tutoring.”

  “You best take advantage of this class, my lovely and greedy student; there is no guessing when another one can be taken.”

  Rachel kissed him, then murmured against his mouth, “I am all ears, eyes, hands, and senses tonight, my talented teacher.”

  “Give me a moment to rest, then I’ll make you starve, make you anticipate, then sate you fully.”

  “So far, you’ve always kept your word to me. I shan’t allow you to break it tonight. Shall I feed you my chilled supper to give you needed strength? I fear I am not properly attired to go downstairs for a hot one.”

  After a time of kissing and cuddling, Dan got out of bed. To guard their privacy, he drew the drapes before he lighted a lamp. He encircled his manly region with his shirt, then secured the half-covering with a knot near one hip. He checked the dinner tray for anything appetizing.

  Rachel donned a loose night robe, secured it with a sash, then joined him. “Let’s see,” she murmured as she eyed the meal. “Bread, fruit, spring salad, dessert, and cheese appear our best choices. The meat and vegetables are cold and greasy by now. The coffee’s cold, too, but we have a glass of water to share. I’ll use the spoon and you take the fork.”